"If we can increase the acuity in our facilities, deliver the higher revenue per patient, put that on top of the same fixed costs, that produces a decent margin life for the company," said Sam Hazen, HCA's COO and future CEO. (HCA)

Most Florida nursing homes did not evacuate before the storm made landfall, but several have been damaged and have now begun moving patients out of their facilities. According to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, 35 hospitals or nursing homes in that state are out of power and running on generators

Azar’s waiver, part of his declaration of a public health emergency in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, applies to provisions that generally require covered hospitals to give patients the opportunity to agree or object to sharing information with family members or friends involved in their care.

Various telehealth providers as well as health systems are preparing for Hurricane Harvey by announcing they would provide free medical virtual visits during Hurricane Florence. CMS also announced a slew of actions to help North Carolina and South Carolina respond to the storm as well as providing a disaster preparedness toolkit for state Medicaid agencies

According to a recently published report, the government plans to invest more than $100 billion to upgrade its healthcare and basic infrastructures and have said that the devastating effect of the hurricane on the safety and health of individuals cannot be overstated.

Physicians, health insurers and former government officials say the drastic cuts demanded defy actuarial science and provide too little money to care for a population still traumatized by Hurricane Maria.